Abstract
The research aims to reconstruct the pyrotechnological processes behind pottery production during the Middle Bronze Age in Cyprus (1600-1100 ca. BC).
The key-site is Erimi-Laonin tou Porakou, a Middle to early Late Bronze Age settlement located in the Limassol District. Erimi has been selected as the reference site because of its exceptional extensive representation of the proto-urbanisation phenomenon that occurred during this time span.
As fire is ephemeral, the traces of its occurrence are scarce in the archaeological record: thus, researching on pyrotechnology requires a multiscale and multidisciplinary approach, which considers both the macroscopic and the microscopical evidence and studies them combining field methods with analytic research. In this study I analyse pottery samples in order to appraise the firing temperatures; this simple data embeds several information on the knowledge about pyrotechnology possessed during the Middle Cypriot: as a matter of facts, it allows to piece together the firing condition, the tools, and the features (e. g. kilns, ovens) employed in the productive process.
The analytical techniques I resort to consist of optical microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (hereinafter FTIR): the former to gather petrographic information, the latter to effectively establish the firing temperatures range to which the selected samples had been exposed. The data collected are reviewed and contextualised in light of coeval island realities (i. e.
Ambelikou-Aletri, Marki-Alonia, Kissonerga-Skalia) and taking in consideration the coincident pyrotechnological developments in the Near East and in the Aegean Sea. The final objective is to understand the developments in the pyrotechnological industry in order to study how they mirrored the proto-urbanisation phenomenon.